Location: South Bend, IN
Client: St. Joseph County Public Libraries
Architect: Robert A. M. Stern Architects, NY
Arkos Design, Mishawaka, IN
GSF: 139,000 sf
Completion: 2022
We were contracted to provide civil engineering and MEP engineering for the new St. Joseph County Public Library project. The scope included a fully renovated 90,000-square-foot library and a new 40,000-square-foot Community Learning Center. Occupying a full city block in downtown South Bend, the two buildings will define a community garden. The renovated building will maintain its current entrance on South Main Street and provide the community with an expanded children’s collection on the ground floor; a reading room and commons on the second floor; and a dedicated local history and genealogy collection on the third floor. Clad in buff brick, punctuated with simply detailed arches and piers, the new Community Learning Center creates a new second entrance to the library at the corner of Wayne Street and South Michigan Street, providing direct access from South Bend’s active commercial corridor. The Community Learning Center will add resources including classrooms; offices; an event space with a hexagonal laylight; a multipurpose room for lectures, computer training, and banquets; and a 250-seat auditorium.
